VANESSA MARQUEZ

I caused the Northridge earthquake.
Me! How did I do it? How do I know?
Because the night of the earthquake
I was in the Northridge Hospital.
I was paralyzed from the waist down
from a car accident I got into on the 10.
I was in the hospital for months.
I wasn’t improving.
I couldn’t stop crying!
But the night of the earthquake,
I was lying in bed,
trying with all my heart and soul
to move my useless legs.
And you know what?
I did! I moved my legs—
and just at that very same second,
the earthquake happened!
I made the whole earth shake with my tiny legs!
Houses fell.
Mountains shifted.
Continents kissed and divorced!
Cracks went down deeper than any hell

I could imagine!
And I did that! Me.
All by myself.

 

And that terrified me.
And I saw what I did
to all those people and houses
and I cried and asked God to forgive me.
I just didn’t know, God!
I was humbled and inspired
and now I can walk.
Now I can walk.